Snapchat has launched its first India-focused brand campaign, ‘Say It In A Snap,’ marking a pivotal moment in the platform’s strategy to strengthen its cultural relevance and monetisation footprint in one of its fastest-growing markets. With over 250 million users in India, of which 90% fall between 13 and 34 years old, the campaign is designed to tap directly into the country’s Gen Z audience, whose communication style, identity expression and media consumption habits are shaping the next era of digital marketing.

The campaign leverages Snapchat’s core positioning — visual-first, ephemeral communication — and reflects how young users increasingly express emotions, reactions, humour and identity through pictures, AR filters and video vernacular rather than full sentences or formal text. The rollout focuses on Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru, incorporating multilingual cultural nuance across Hindi, English and Kannada to make the messaging feel hyper-local and authentic.

“If you notice when you see the campaign, what we've tried to do is keep it as close as possible to the way Gen Z actually communicates,” said Ankit Goyle, Head of India Marketing, Snap Inc. “There are mentions of Kannada, there are mentions of Hindi, and a lot of English in their lingo. We’ve made sure it reflects a mix of regional cultural references while staying rooted in the everyday language young users already use.”

Unlike many digital brand campaigns that rely on models and stylised messaging, ‘Say It In A Snap’ features real Snapchatters and is intentionally designed to feel unfiltered and community-driven. Goyle, who spent nearly a decade at Apple India before joining Snap, said that authenticity — not polish — was the non-negotiable principle guiding the project.

“I picked up early on that you need to be truly, genuinely connected to the user,” he said. “From this campaign’s point of view, we’ve tried to be absolutely real. We’ve worked with real Snapchatters — there are no models. And our North Star is not reach — it’s engagement. Engagement with creators, with advertisers, and with our users. Vanity metrics are something every campaign can chase, but for us, the focus is on building attention and meaning.”

The campaign is also positioned as a call-to-action for advertisers. With India’s digital ecosystem rapidly shifting towards personalised engagement rather than broadcast-style marketing, Snapchat is pitching itself as a platform where brands can participate in conversations rather than interrupt them.

“For Gen Z, just a one-to-many communication model is not what they want — they want personalised engagement,” Goyle explained. “They don’t want brands telling them what needs to be done. So when our sales teams work with advertisers, that’s how we coach and guide them. It’s about creating genuine relationships with consumers rather than forcing your message into their feed.”

Snapchat is backing this philosophy with platform-level capabilities, including sponsored Snaps, video ads and AR lenses. The company claims these immersive formats deliver significantly higher active attention compared to traditional social media feeds, where scrolling behaviour and format fatigue dilute brand recall.

Snap says its platform features have powered meaningful results for early advertiser partners, especially in categories such as beauty, fashion, gaming, lifestyle and F&B — all fast-growing consumption verticals for Gen Z. The company also positions AR as its competitive edge: instead of passively watching a brand, users create content with the brand.

“We believe attention is the most critical — and most broken — metric in marketing today,” the company noted during the launch. “We’re in a ‘Gen Z attention deficit,’ where this generation pays up to 34% less attention to ads on passive social feeds. Snapchat is fundamentally different — it’s built for participation, not just scrolling.”

India remains one of Snap’s strongest growth engines as the platform pushes toward greater monetisation of its large user base. With rising purchasing power and generational influence — Gen Z in India is expected to contribute to a projected global spending power of $2 trillion by 2035 — Snap sees the market as central to its long-term business strategy.

“India is a very, very large growth market for us,” Goyle said. “We’ve been here for some time, but we believe this is the absolute opportune moment to scale our presence. With this campaign, we’re investing deeply — not just to grow users, but to build relevance, trust and long-term partnerships.”

With ‘Say It In A Snap,’ Snapchat isn't just showcasing a creative campaign — it is making a bigger bet: that the future of digital communication in India will be visual, interactive and community-driven, and that brands that want Gen Z’s loyalty will have to learn to speak that language — one Snap at a time.